Question

How do you translate into symbols: The difference between n and 14?

Answer 1

`|n-14|`

Answer 2

I'd say `abs(n-14)`

Explanation:

It depends on how exactly you interpet the idea of "difference".

If you speak in a merely numeric sense, then the difference between two numbers `a` and `b` is simply `a-b`, and so the answer would be `n-14`

Anyway, in a more general sense, maybe the absolute value is more adequate, since it computes "how far" two numbers are from each other, giving always a positive result. It seems more logic, because it says that `a` is far from `b` exactly as much as `b` is far from `a`, while using the "standard" difference, you have that `a-b` and `b-a` have opposite signs.

So, I'd say that the most proper answer is `abs(n-14)`